Tuesday, December 7, 2004

DIMENSION OPTIONS THE DARKNESS

Platinum Studios and Top Cow Productions on Tuesday announced a deal in which Dimension Films has acquired the rights to develop Top Cowıs The Darkness as a live-action feature film.

The Darkness is the first film deal between Platinum Studios and Top Cow, following Platinum Studios' acquisition of the film and television rights to Top Cow's comic book library in July.

"I was hoping to celebrate closing the full paperwork of our Platinum/Top Cow deal by year end -- I'm thrilled that, instead, the celebration is now about setting up such a high-profile project this soon,² said Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Chairman of Platinum Studios. "The Top Cow library and Platinum Studios library compliment each other well, allowing us greater potential than ever before. The Darkness is just one of many franchises we plan to build together."

"Both creatively and from a business standpoint, Platinum Studios is a great collaborator," said Andrew Gumpert, Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Dimension. "We went from story pitch to signing the documents in just a couple of business days."

"Platinum Studios has a unique way of developing that really works for us and is respectful to our creators," said Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri. "The company found the feature film potential of The Darkness, while preserving the integrity of the comicıs characters and storyline."

Rosenberg and Silvestri will be co-executive producers, with Matt Hawkins. Aaron Severson, and Jay Burns as associate producers.

BLADE: TRINITY UPDATE

Peter Frankfurt, producer of Blade: Trinity, said that the third film in the franchise has a unique personality from the previous two films.

"The second movie kind of went underground and became more stylized, more unto itself. This movie aims to go back into the world, to feel loser in almost a documentary style, as if we're catching fragments of a war and its spilling onto the streets.

"Our cinematographer, Gabriel Beristain, also shot Blade II, and one of the reasons he was execited to come back was to work with David Goyer (writer/director) and also because what we wanted to do was so completely different from the previous film. So he really gets to stretch and try different things."

A key difference in the third movie -- which opens Wednesday -- is the introduction of the Nightstalkers.

"Although Blade: Trinity has the best storyline, it's really not about the plot so much as the new characters who are introduced," Frankfurt said. "Abigail Whistler and Hannibal King are very different and extremely cool additions to the Blade universe. And it's fun becuase they defy Blade's expectations. Blade doesn't really know how to deal with them in the movie, and that's an amusing thing to watch."

Frankfurt has produced all three Blade movies.

"The unifying common thread is, of course, Wesley Snipes as Blade," he said. "He's so distinctive in his look and his bearing, and that doesn't change, no matter what the palate is, no matter what the film stock is, what the film rate is. He's still Blade."

In other Blade: Trinity news:

* MTV's Diary episode with Jessica Biel (Abigail) included a segment featuring Biel's appearance at Wizard World Texas last month. "I really believe that these are the important people to reach because they love this stuff," Biel said.

Click on the thumbnails above for larger images from the convention.

SON OF THE MASK

New Line Cinema has released the poster and six images from Son of The Mask, a sequel based on the Dark Horse propety.

Here's how the film is described:

"A decade after the legendary Mask of Loki wreaked havoc on the life of an unsuspecting adult, the magical mask finds its way into the possession of a child in the family comedy Son of the Mask. When cartoonist Tim Avery's (Jamie Kennedy) new son is born with the Mask's spectacular powers - to the dismay of the family's jealous dog - it turns the household upside down and launches a kid versus canine battle for control of the Mask. But unbeknownst to them all, Loki has come looking for his mask and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back."

Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2, plays Loki. The cast also includes Bob Hoskins and Traylor Howard.

The film, directed by Lawrence Guterman, is scheduled for a Feb. 18 release.

FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four- to five-page previews of upcoming titles, CLICK HERE.

MARVEL MOVIE ROUNDUP

The Sub-Mariner movie, with newly attached producer/director Chris Columbus, is targeted for a 2007 release, Marvel's Peter Cuneo said during a presentation on Tuesday at the 32nd Annual Media Week Conference in New York.

"We have so many characters still to be developed, still to be launched," Cuneo said.

"If that holds, weıll literally have the problem that the year will be too big for us," Cuneo said.

Cuneo said that Marvel's contracts give studios the characters' rights for unending sequels -- with one catch. "They must make sequels within a certain time frame or they will lose the franchise," he said.

In another Media Week presentation on Tuesday, Jon Feltheimer Lion's Gate CEO, said that The Punisher was "a very profitable picture" for the company and that the film's critical family division will include two Avengers straight-to-DVD movies. "There's a whole lot of business there that's not in The Incredibles or Shark Tales," he said.

BRIEFLY

Archie Comics has announced that, starting in March, Laugh Digest will become Tales from Riverdale Digest.

Coming Wednesday: DC news -- and much more!!!

COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES

In case you missed The Continuum's recent coverage, here are some links:

* For Wednesday, Dec. 1, include Sword of Dracula and Justice League Unlimited news, CLICK HERE.